The Known Niqab and the Ruling on a Woman Wearing a Face Veil
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, what is called the woman’s face veil (tathlith) has become widespread recently. We often see women wearing it, exposing most of their faces. When one advises them, they argue that the niqab is permissible. What is the niqab that was known in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), which the Shari'ah permits, and what is the ruling on this practice? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
The niqab is a face covering with two openings for the eyes, resembling a mask. This is the niqab. It is called a niqab because it has two openings (nuqbatayn), meaning two holes for the eyes through which the woman sees. This is the first point.
As for us in our society, what is known is the shaylah, and it is not the custom of the women in our country to wear it. Every society has the right to follow what is known within it and not bring in a custom that is not known. We do not adopt the niqab because it is not our custom. The custom of our women is that they cover their faces with the loose coverings that do not have tightness, called the shaylah, the ghutrah, or the ghutwa. This is known to us, and it is complete and good covering. So why do we replace it with another covering that is not our custom and say that this existed in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)? Yes, it existed, but why do we turn away from what we are accustomed to, the shaylah and the complete covering that was known among us, which is one of the beauties of this society, in that it covers the face and keeps the woman away from fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) in herself and from being a source of fitnah for others? Why do we leave this and adopt another covering that is not our custom and that we did not know except from books? What is this, a good matter to turn to? Also, this is a gradual process that may lead to exposing the face entirely, because the woman gradually first shows her eyes, then the upper part of her face, and finally removes the covering entirely. Therefore, it is obligatory for our women to remain with what was known in our society, which, praise be to Allah, aligns with what is required by the Shari'ah regarding the covering of the woman’s face.
Honorable Shaykh, what is called the woman’s face veil (tathlith) has become widespread recently. We often see women wearing it, exposing most of their faces. When one advises them, they argue that the niqab is permissible. What is the niqab that was known in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), which the Shari'ah permits, and what is the ruling on this practice? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
The niqab is a face covering with two openings for the eyes, resembling a mask. This is the niqab. It is called a niqab because it has two openings (nuqbatayn), meaning two holes for the eyes through which the woman sees. This is the first point.
As for us in our society, what is known is the shaylah, and it is not the custom of the women in our country to wear it. Every society has the right to follow what is known within it and not bring in a custom that is not known. We do not adopt the niqab because it is not our custom. The custom of our women is that they cover their faces with the loose coverings that do not have tightness, called the shaylah, the ghutrah, or the ghutwa. This is known to us, and it is complete and good covering. So why do we replace it with another covering that is not our custom and say that this existed in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)? Yes, it existed, but why do we turn away from what we are accustomed to, the shaylah and the complete covering that was known among us, which is one of the beauties of this society, in that it covers the face and keeps the woman away from fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) in herself and from being a source of fitnah for others? Why do we leave this and adopt another covering that is not our custom and that we did not know except from books? What is this, a good matter to turn to? Also, this is a gradual process that may lead to exposing the face entirely, because the woman gradually first shows her eyes, then the upper part of her face, and finally removes the covering entirely. Therefore, it is obligatory for our women to remain with what was known in our society, which, praise be to Allah, aligns with what is required by the Shari'ah regarding the covering of the woman’s face.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، محاضرات في العقيدة والدعوة-038-الفقه الأكبر|صالح الفوزان|كبار العلماء — youtube.com (48:33)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.